Godmode Epochs: Training AI Through a Frustrating Video Game
Released in 2023, Godmode Epochs, created by dmstfctn (Francesco Tacchini and Oliver Smith), offers a unique simulation of AI training. Available online at The Wrong Biennale, players assist an AI in learning by matching supermarket items with their definitions. As the AI makes errors, its frustration grows, a response generated in real time through OpenAI's GPT. This frustration can be utilized to unlock "memories" of past training mistakes, leading to power-ups such as "godmode." The game serves as a critique of biases present in simulated training settings. Godmode Epochs builds upon the duo's previous work, GOD MODE (ep. 1), which was developed from 2021 to 2022, and is featured in The Wrong Biennale's Directory pavilion from November 1, 2023, to March 1, 2024.
Key facts
- Godmode Epochs is a video game by dmstfctn (Francesco Tacchini and Oliver Smith) that simulates AI training.
- The game was released in 2023 and is exhibited online at The Wrong Biennale.
- Players teach an AI to associate products with definitions in a supermarket simulation.
- AI frustration is generated via OpenAI's GPT and can be spent to unlock 'memories' of AI cheating.
- One memory recounts a 1997 experiment where an AI crashed another by exploiting memory limits.
- The game builds on the performance GOD MODE (ep. 1), developed 2021-2022, using Unreal Engine.
- GOD MODE (ep. 1) was adapted into an installation shown at Semibreve festival in Portugal in October.
- Godmode Epochs critiques bias in simulated training environments.
- The game was supported by Serpentine's Arts Technologies and The Alan Turing Institute's Public Engagement Grant 2022.
- The Wrong Biennale exhibition runs from November 1, 2023, to March 1, 2024, in the Directory pavilion curated by Tam Nguyen.
Entities
Artists
- Francesco Tacchini
- Oliver Smith
- HERO IMAGE
- Kevin Walker
- Tam Nguyen
- Mai Huyen Chi
- Xuan Ha
- Duyen Le
- Lien Nguyen
- Matteo Lupetti
Institutions
- dmstfctn
- The Wrong Biennale
- The Wrong Studio
- OpenAI
- Epic Games
- Unreal Engine
- Serpentine
- The Alan Turing Institute
- Coventry University
- Semibreve
- Artribune
Locations
- Italy
- Portugal
- United Kingdom